Labour made mistakes over immigration, Alan Johnson admitsAlan Johnson, the Home Secretary, admitted today that the Labour Government has made mistakes over immigration policy in his first speech on the issue.

Published: 12:55PM GMT 02 Nov 2009

Alan Johnson: Distancing himself from his predecessors, he said ministers had ignored for 'far too long' problems in the immigration system Photo: REUTERS
Mr Johnson said that some parts of Britain were "disproportionately" affected by immigration, with an influx of new arrivals putting a "strain" on jobs and services.
Setting out four key principles for debate, including that all immigrants should learn English, he also accepted that his party had been "maladroit" in its handling of the issue

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Distancing himself from his predecessors, he said ministers had ignored for "far too long" problems in the immigration system that led to huge backlogs of asylum seekers and foreign national prisoners.
He told an audience at the Royal Society for the Arts in central London: "Whilst I accept that governments of both persuasions, including this one, have been maladroit in their handling of this issue, I do believe that the UK is now far more successful at tackling migration than most of its European and north American neighbours.
He added: "The legacy problems with unreturned foreign national prisoners and asylum seekers may have accumulated under previous administrations, but they continued to be ignored for far too long on our watch."

Mr Johnson outlined four principles in the debate on immigration which he said should be accepted by everyone.

â¢ That there was "no sensible argument" for immigration to cease altogether;
â¢ Some communities more affected by immigration than others had "legitimate concerns about the strain that the growth in the local population has placed on jobs and services";
â¢ Other countries are affected by the problems caused by immigration;
â¢ People who come to live here should learn the language, obey the laws and pay tax.

Since 2001, "real and rapid progress" had been made on tackling illegal immigrants from war-torn conflict zones, he said.
At the time, illegal immigrants living in the Sangatte camp could get into Britain with "comparative ease" by hiding in the back of lorries, he added.
Since then, improvements to checks in Calais had cut the numbers found in Kent by around 90 per cent.
Mr Johnson also criticised Tory plans for a cap on migrant numbers as "arbitrary" and claimed it would hurt businesses who needed to hire skilled staff.
Tory claims of an "open door" immigration system under Labour were a return to "dog whistle politics" he said.
The speech signalled a tougher line on migration from Mr Johnson, who has made few significant pronouncements on the subject.
Only months into the job, he told a committee of MPs he did not "lie awake at night" worrying about the population hitting 70million.

.some communities more affected by immigration than others had "legitimate concerns about the strain that the growth in the local population has placed on jobs and services";
â¢ Other countries are affected by the problems caused by immigration;
â¢ People who come to live here should learn the language, obey the laws and pay tax.

so how's he going to start to solve these problems or at least lay a framework for dave and his mates to work on

I'd suggest outside of health and law ban interpreters spend the money on english lessons no more council forms in every language under the sun.

sort out the asslyum immigration service employ some more people link prosecution service/ prison service non citizen locked up for more than 6 months your leaving on the day before your due to get out of jail collect from jail put on airplane goodbyee

"Well, they're in, a lot more than we ever dreamed we could get in, but it's been a resounding success. We have changed the ethnic mix of the UK to its detriment forever, and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it.

However, we understand that people have now sussed us out, they hate us for it, and there's an election coming, and we are a bit worried that because of our stunt, the BNP might do rather well, and if they do, it's going to be hung on our door. People will say "It's because of you that the Tyber is red with blood and the BNP now have MPs all over the place."

"Well, they're in, a lot more than we ever dreamed we could get in, but it's been a resounding success. We have changed the ethnic mix of the UK to its detriment forever, and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it.

in 50 years time, serious learned historians and intellectuals will look back on this government and decide that they were the most useless corrupt warMONGering F-wits any country has ever had to put up with and advise that their rotting corpses be dug up and desecrated.

This sudden admission of error has very little to do with any belated feelings of guilt, and everything to do with the Neather revelations, that mass immigration was a deliberate Labour ploy to 'rub the noses' of the British population in the idea that multiculturalism was a Good Thing. This was all being kept rather quiet until yesterday, when the mainstream media broke silence on this at last:

Can the recent success of the British National party be explained by the misguided immigration policy of the government? That was the killer question from the floor during the notorious episode of Question Time 10 days ago. Four times it was put to Jack Straw, the justice secretary, and four times he avoided answering it. Until that evening I had thought Straw was a fairly decent sort of bloke, for a politician. No longer. In a man so central to the new Labour project, who has served in cabinet under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who has been home secretary and foreign secretary, evasion on such an important subject is shocking.

Labour - and the Tories, and LibDems - are very, very, very, worried about this. The BBC have not mentioned it, and only The Spectator has raised this revelation. We will see what happens now that Murdoch has decided to play with this - if he decides to push it in The Sun as a lead, it could easily result in major public disorder - or, probably more likely, pressure on the Tories to do something if they do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Labour. Interesting times, as they say............

"Well, they're in, a lot more than we ever dreamed we could get in, but it's been a resounding success. We have changed the ethnic mix of the UK to its detriment forever, and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it.

However, we understand that people have now sussed us out, they hate us for it, and there's an election coming, and we are a bit worried that because of our stunt, the BNP might do rather well, and if they do, it's going to be hung on our door. People will say "It's because of you that the Tyber is red with blood and the BNP now have MPs all over the place."

So, for the record, sorry.

Sorry about the expenses thing too.

Oh, and the loss of sovereignty.

Yeah, the privacy thing, bit embarrassed actually.

Fell a bit foolish about making everyone a criminal too."

Click to expand...

Probably the most succinctly put summation of the current bunch of corrupt gits.

I have no doubt whatsoever that it also has a lot to do with the increasing profile of, and support for the BNP. This Government has operated a 'knee-jerk reaction' political policy on every key issue since they found themselves in power and I don't expect that will ever change. The fact that it is no longer possible to suppress some fundamental public concerns through the culture of political correctness, they will have to address some pretty difficult subjects up to the next election in their desperate bid to retain credibility. If the Tories don't have some realistic and effective policies to offer then I have a strong feeling that the BNP will have a larger proportion of the vote than any of the major parties expect. Thank heavens we don't have proportional representation!

The only mistake that Labour made was the worst one....they were found out.

I really hope that Murdoch does run with this in the Sun,it is about time that Labour were exposed and held to account.

Lets face it,most politico's would rather talk about expenses than immigration and as this is the case it rests with the media to prompt the national debate.If the media does not bring this into the light then I am afraid things are going to get rather nasty in the future.

"Well, they're in, a lot more than we ever dreamed we could get in, but it's been a resounding success. We have changed the ethnic mix of the UK to its detriment forever, and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it.

However, we understand that people have now sussed us out, they hate us for it, and there's an election coming, and we are a bit worried that because of our stunt, the BNP might do rather well, and if they do, it's going to be hung on our door. People will say "It's because of you that the Tyber is red with blood and the BNP now have MPs all over the place."

So, for the record, sorry.

Sorry about the expenses thing too.

Oh, and the loss of sovereignty.

Yeah, the privacy thing, bit embarrassed actually.

Fell a bit foolish about making everyone a criminal too."

Click to expand...

Probably the most succinctly put summation of the current bunch of corrupt gits.

"Well, they're in, a lot more than we ever dreamed we could get in, but it's been a resounding success. We have changed the ethnic mix of the UK to its detriment forever, and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it.

However, we understand that people have now sussed us out, they hate us for it, and there's an election coming, and we are a bit worried that because of our stunt, the BNP might do rather well, and if they do, it's going to be hung on our door. People will say "It's because of you that the Tyber is red with blood and the BNP now have MPs all over the place."

So, for the record, sorry.

Sorry about the expenses thing too.

Oh, and the loss of sovereignty.

Yeah, the privacy thing, bit embarrassed actually.

Fell a bit foolish about making everyone a criminal too."

Click to expand...

Probably the most succinctly put summation of the current bunch of corrupt gits.

Click to expand...

Most definitely very well-stated by Biped. Although I'd tend to disagree to a certain extent with the last point. I don't believe they feel foolish about the measures they've introduced to effectively criminalise everybody (except themselves, of course), but they probably didn't think that folks were going to suss them like they did. It was a "misunderestimation"

Does he really thinking admitting mistakes will win him forgiveness from the electorate?
Besides, we all know it wasn't mistake. It was deliberate and the only thing they are sorry about is that everyone knows they did it on purpose.

If there is any justice in this world they will pay for their treachery. All of them.

Sorry to disappoint anyone but the predicted freezing over of hell has been halted by a massive outburst of hot air from Johnson.

Read what he said.

Firstly he accuses all governments not just this current bunch of half-wits. This is his - oh so clever way of refuting the recent accusations

And besides they haven't really made mistakes - they have just been "maladroit". WTF is that about, I thought Alan Johnson portrays himself as a straight talking man of the people? Well we must have been maladroit about that, he is as evasive and dishonest as all the rest.

But whatever may or may not have been wrong has been corrected by New Labour and since 2001 "real and rapid progress" has been made. Had anyone noticed that progress? No .... I didn't think so.

This is just a calculated exercise in spin. A chance to accuse the Tories of being at best misguided (by racist tendancies perhaps) whilst also laying down an alternative to lure back some of their core voters who are considering voting BNP. Taking eyes off the Drugs Advisor issue is just a bonus. Lord Meddlesome's fingerprints all over this one